Twist of Fate
by Garnets-and-Dragons
Summary: When twenty three year old F-22 Raptor Epsilon Majoris is shot down and wounded in battle, the damage forces her to quit her once hopeful air force career and look for another job, but she's not ready to stop fighting. In her new job, she won't be fighting battle against vehicles, she will be fighting something she never thought about fighting before. Fires
1. Chapter 1

Twenty three year old Epsilon Canis Majoris let out a sigh of relief, as she took off from the runway of the base where she had recently stationed. It felt wonderful after a long night of sleeping in a cramped hanger to be able to once again feel the rush of cool wind under her wings, and the thrumming of power through her whole frame. Up here, in the vast blue sky, she was unstoppable, unmatched, and completely in her element. This is where she was meant to be.

She banked hard to the left, then pulled up so her nose was pointed almost vertically to the ground. She didn't have to worry about stalling, her model: The Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor was equipped with powerful afterburners with the ability to tilt, even when she wasn't. This even allowed her to take of vertically if needed, though she personally preferred a nice long runway.

Once she was satisfied with her altitude she leveled her wings and stopped her climb, by now the base was nothing more than the faintest dot on the horizon line behind her that even her eagle sharp eyes could no longer see.

It was a beautiful day to fly, high up here. The heat down near the ground was oppressive, especially for anyone coming from a place as cold as Alaska. Up here the thinner air made everything feel nice and icy, a welcome relief for sensitive wings.

*Raptor, do you copy?* A voice in the headset of her helmet asked.

Epsilon immediately responded. *I copy.* She said, dropping a few hundred feet lower, and in to a few patches of clouds.

*We need you to cover to a Medevac team under heavy fire. You are our closest asset, their location will be relayed to your positioning systems.* The speaker explained, and soon after there was a beep and on the small map at the bottom right corner of her visor a red point appeared, labeled with coordinates.

*Roger, ETA approximately ten mikes, Epsilon out." She said, banking right this time and dropping her altitude to just above the bottom layer of clouds, at once all her senses came to life. She was on high alert, every square inch of her airframe buzzed with energy. Even from high above any bit of movement on the ground cough her attention, like a true predictor.

It didn't take long for her to see the unfolding firefight. She flew down to a lower altitude sending footage from the camera in her helmet back to base, while assessing the situation. Two Blackhawk helicopters circled the pinned down friendly forces, providing much needed cover for the soldiers on the ground. Still, the circumstances didn't look very good.

She swooped lower, and spotted the enemy combatants. Just as she started to ready her arsenal of missiles, a call came through her radio again, coming from the ground forces below her. *Raptor, do you copy? We need air support! We're pinned down!*

*I copy, I have the enemy located. Is everyone clear, over?* She asked, as she found her weapon of choice for the task, but before firing she wanted to make sure that all the friendlies were out of way.

*All clear. You may commence firing, out.* They replied, and ended the transmission. The helicopters flew a little farther back as she blanked right sharply and leveled herself. Her weapons bays opened, and she released the first of her missiles, perfectly aimed at enemy forces. The swooped from the sky and exploded once they reached the ground.

Satisfied she had hit her mark she banked right again flying over them one more, this time dropping two small bombs from her weapons bays. They fell with deadly accuracy, and left large smoldering holes in the ground below.

This time she didn't immediately fly over the enemy's position again, instead she closed her weapons bays and soared over around the small combat zone, and focused her attention and surveillance equipment on the recovering enemy. Many were down. _Good. _She'd done what they had needed her to do.

The ground forces began opening fire, before they were able to recover, turning the tides and pinning them down. One of the two Blackhawks landed while the other began firing upon the enemy, and the medevac team quickly began to evacuate the wounded.

That's when the trouble started.

As she turned to do another fly over, she passed by a small band of mountains. As soon as she had turned with her tail towards the mountain an alarm blared in her helmet, and her systems went in to overdrive. Something had locked on to her.

She turned as sharply as she could, pulling almost strait up, even steeper than earlier. Whatever it was, it was still on her tail. She powered down her afterburners and dropped from the sky, a dangers and very difficult maneuver to pull out of. She could do it though.

The alarms started baring again, another projectile had been fired from one of the enemies on the ground. _Oh no you don't!_ She growled to herself, and pulled up and out of her freefall. She wasn't sure what was being fired at her, but it was best to try for everything, so she fired off a set of flares.

But it was too late, something had already caught up with her.

The explosion rattled her frame and knocked her in to a crazy spiral. The projectile had taken out on of her after burns and one of her secondary diamond shaped wings. She didn't have time to dwell on that as she tried to pull up out of the deadly dive. She watched in horror as the ground came closer and closer, and she strained to gain control of her dive, pulling up just barely at the last minute, as she forced herself to extend her landing gear, hoping she could at least brake her fall.

Then came the impact, but after that everything went black.


	2. Chapter 2

_Thank you to everyone who has reviewed this story so far! It means a lot!_

* * *

Epsilon let out a pained moan, as she woke up laying in mound of rocks and sand. For a while she couldn't feel much more than a throbbing ache in her right side, but it didn't take long for her pain to creep up on her, and leave her whimpering in the sand. She opened her eyes to look for danger, or someone coming to help her, but the glare of the sun quickly forced her to close them again.

She eventually opened her eyes once more, fighting back a cry of pain as she tried to get a look at the damage. She could feel she was missing her wings, and she wasn't quite sure what the condition of her secondary wings and stabilizers were in, but from the sound a sputtering engine she could tell at least one of her afterburners was still working enough to continue burning. Her landing gear was crumpled beneath her, and she could feel a deep gash in her side just under her left wing.

She groaned and closed her eyes again, the heat was horrible and the pain was unimaginable. All she could think about was making it stop.

Again she lost consciousness, falling in to a void of black nothingness.

When she awoke the second time she could here static in one side of her headset, but she was too weak to even try and contact her base. She didn't have the strength to even think clearly, so trying to signal for help was out of the question.

As she lay in the dust, barely wake she began to hear what sounded like helicopter blades…

She groaned in pain and opened her eyes as she tried her best to prop herself up a small rock. She ended up not eve being strong enough to move an inch. She looked around as far as she could, but between the sand in her eyes and the glare of the sun she couldn't see a thing.

She closed her eyes again and just lay limply in the sand, her head felt like it was being pounded on by jackhammer and her whole airframe was plagued with agonizing pain.

As she lay there, the sounds of helicopters got louder and she began to feel wind against her frame. It seemed like hour before she finally heard shouting, and felt the strong wind of a near by chopper.

She opened her eyes weakly, and saw a large sandy colored pickup truck rush towards her. He shouted something at her over the noise of rotors, but she couldn't understand a word he said.

He drove up next to her face. "Can you hear me?!" He shouted over the wind.

She let out a weak groan, trying to talk. The only thing that came out was a pathetic squeak. She closed her eyes again, and fought to turn off her working afterburner.

Everything after that was like a dream, reality slipping from her grasp leaving only fleeting traces of memory behind. But after everything that had happened, she took comfort in the fact that she was in good hands now.

"Epsilon, can you hear me?"

Epsilon groaned, opening her eyes and fighting the bright glare to lights. "Wha….?" She asked as he eyes adjusted. She was in an operating room, being swarmed from all sides by mechanics and air force personnel. Two bright white lights hung just over her head, and the sound of welders and other medical equipment hard at work, repairing her mangled frame.

To her relief she watched the familiar face of John Wherling -her mechanic- frowning up at her, forks crossed and eyebrows forming a V shape. "Good, you're awake. How do you feel?" He asked, using one of his forks to lifter up her head and inspect the damage to her underbelly.

She flinched as he prodded a few scraped and sore patches under her chin, than began cleaning them out, making twitch slightly when he rubbed the cleaner on the open wound.

She took a few moments to consider his question, looking at reflective surfaces around the room to get a good look at her condition, only to find out that they had draped a tarp over most of her, probably to keep her from seeing the damage. "I… I don't think there's part of me that doesn't hurt…" She finally said, her voice was quiet and quivering.

John snorted, not even looking up. "Not surprising, you took quite a fall there. You're lucky to be alive, even more so that you can talk to me this soon after."

Epsilon made a small noise of agreement and closed her eyes again, overwhelmed. "How bad is it?" She asked, although she dreaded the most likely answer.

"Well, if your luck continues to hold, you may be able to fly again, though we shouldn't get out hopes up yet." He said, getting down from his lift, and driving around to where her wings were supposed to be. "Now get some rest, before I have to knock you out." He said, picking up a large needle and tapping it on one of his forks. "We all know how well that always works out."

Epsilon didn't bother protesting, she was just glad the pain killers that she knew were running in to drips were working well enough to take the edge of most of the pain.

She closed her eyes and concentrated on falling back asleep, but the noise, commotion and the rest of the pain made it hard for her to get a clear enough head.

After a few minutes she felt John poke the needle in to her fuel pump. "It should start working in a few minutes, so just hang tight." He said

Epsilon made a whine in return, and sighed heavily. She was awake enough that she was now able to think clearly enough to relies she had been the first of her kind to be shot down in combat. Sure, others, -Like her Father- had crashed, but she'd been shot down by enemy fire. She groaned, and tried to shove that thought out of her mind. _Not here, not now._ She thought. _I can't dwell on that… not while I'm still in here…_

Slowly she felt the tranquilizer take effect and she drifted off in to a deep sleep, as the mechanics continued to work.


	3. Chapter 3

_Two weeks later…._

Connor Alpha didn't relaxed until all of his massive wheels were safely down on the tarmac, but still even then he didn't fully relax. He wasn't safe here, he didn't want to stay longer than needed; at least the darkness helped hide his immense airframe.

He had landed at the base at midnight, his gray camouflage paint hid him against attacks from the ground. He had flown in with every light off, but he was still a huge target, and he couldn't risk being seen by enemy ground forces. Still, the massive roars of his turbines was deafening, and carried across the whole basin. Everyone within miles of the runway could hear him.

Even here, in the middle of the sprawling base, he felt vulnerable.

The massive C-5 Galaxy quickly pulled in to his designated spot, safely between two large buildings. He opened his cargo hatch and his crew quickly pulled out several bulky pallets of supplies, and a brand new rotor assembly. They needed to hurry. He wanted to be up and out of the base before first light.

Once everything was out, it was time for the next payload. But this time, it was something much more important than freeze dried snack rations, laundry detergent and a half a ton of baking flower.

"Well, well, well if it isn't the _Aluminum Overcast_."

Connor looked down to see a green and gray forklift grinning up at him. "Good evening to you too John." He said, rolling his eyes. His voice was surprising light, and quiet for a plane of his size. "Now, are you guys read to load up? I need to leave before dawn."

"Yeah, we can get you out by sunrise." He said. "We just need to be careful… Don't want to cause more problems than there are already." He said.

Connor snorted. "But it wouldn't help if we were all shot out of the sky." He said, giving him a look.

"I know, I know…. Just be patient." John said, before disappearing in to the hanger to the Galaxy's left. A few minutes later, as ground crew were inspecting Connor for any damage, the hanger door slowly opened.

Connor had gotten some of the medical details of the plane they wanted him to carry back to Alaska, but he hadn't expected this. A young Raptor, maybe in her early twenties, he couldn't see anything past where her wings should have begun, because she was covered in a large white cloth. But it didn't take a surgeon to figure out how bad the damage was. Connor flinched. John had told him he had a plane who needed to be flow back to Anchorage, who had lost her wings in a crash… But he hadn't told him the extant of the damage.

The team of mechanic slowly pushed her up the back ramp, and in to the cargo hold. Connor let out an anxious sighed, and waited. His eyes watched the clock in the open medi hanger. "Please hurry…." He said, this time hoping not only for a quick take off, but for the young planes quick recovery. He knew if she had lost her wings and crashed, yet was stable enough to endure a long flight, it had to have been at least a week since the crash, in her case probably more. He wonder what the chanced of her ever being able to fly were, he guess that they couldn't be real great.

"Stay strong." He whispered.

* * *

Epsilon's eyes shot open as she was woken up by a deafening roar all around her, and for a moment she felt as if she was falling again. She panic, trying to fire up her after burners and pull out of the dive…

"Whoa! Whoa! Calm down! You're alright! You're going home!"

Epsilon seemed to calm a little when she noticed she wasn't falling. She looked around, two other mechanics sat with they're equipment nearby. She could tell she was inside a large planes, she should couldn't tell what type, but that didn't matter.

She noticed she was still hooked up to several monitors, and guess they were there as a safety precaution. They had told her they weren't too worried about her anymore, that all she really needed now was a few repair parts, her wings and a lot of time to heal.

"Don't worry, they're just there in case the air pressure, or things of that nature start causing you any problems." John said calmly, putting away a few of his tools.

Epsilon swallowed. "Why didn't you tell me?" She asked.

"Well, first and foremost, we just recently decided you were well enough to transport. We wanted to make sure that you weren't in any danger." He said. "Also, I contacted your mother, and she wanted it to be a surprise when you woke up in Anchorage, but that wasn't real high on my priorities." He got out a notepad out of a bag. "Plus, the faster we get you home, the faster you can get your wings back, and the faster you can fly again."

Epsilon bit back a quiet whine. She hadn't really thought about that, part of her didn't want to fly again. She kept thinking about the crash, and the pain and the feeling of pure helplessness. Part of her wanted to never go through that again…

She looked away from John and to a spot on the floor to her left. She felt miserable, not only because of the damage from the crash, but mentally as well. She was the first Raptor to be shot down in combat, that wasn't supposed to happen! They were supposed to be unsurpassed, unstoppable…..

The young Raptor blinked back tears as her emotions began building inside her like a pressure cooker. What would her parents say? She'd let her family down… _I let Dad down…_ She bit the inside of her cheek and focused on the floor. She'd let everyone down.

Noticing her saddened expression, John rolled up in front of her. "Epsilon?" He asked.

Epsilon flinched, she had hoped he hadn't noticed her sulking. "Yes?" She asked, forcing down her emotions back up in the "bottle".

"If your blaming yourself, don't." He said. "Your just like your mother, something goes wrong, you blame yourself." His face turned serious. "I know you're beating yourself up over this, and I know you're worried about what your mother is going to think, what your father would think." His face seemed to soften again, he put a fork on his nose. "They're both proud of you, they always will be."

"How do _you_ know?!" She demanded, she wasn't sure how to react other than that.

John chuckled lightly, giving her an optimistic look. "If I knew your father half as well as I pride myself in thinking, I know he'd be proud of you, Epsilon." He picked a few of his tools, and started organizing his bag, what he did when he wasn't sure what else to do. "And your IS proud of you, and I'm sure your little brother thinks you're the best big sister ever." He said.

Epsilon swallowed. _Orion…._

"From what your mother told me, he brags to all his friends that his sister is the best fighter on the planet." John said smiling up at her. "And he's been worried sick about you."

Epsilon glared at him. "That's not helping…" She snapped. She couldn't help but feel she had let her brother down too. He had always looked up to her, now she'd let him down. What was he supposed to tell his friends now? That his sister was he first Raptor to be shot down in combat?

John sighed, setting down a big silver wrench. "Alright, I'll stop talking." He said, he knew that it was usually best to let her calm down before discussing things like this. Still, it was worth a shot.

_A shot… why didn't I remember to do that before we took off?! _He mentally smacked himself multiple times over. He had planned on sedating her for most of the trip, because once they reached cruising altitude it was going to get pretty uncomfortable for a plane fresh out of the infirmary.

He sighed. _Great, now get to try and sedate a 20 ton aircraft in another moving aircraft while still climbing. How fun…._ The forklift thought sarcastically.

He took out the large needle and moved to where her wings should have been. "Okay, Epsilon. I'm gonna sedate your once more for the flight, because you're not going to be real comfortable during this flight, and I still have work left to do that will be messed up if so much as twitch." He said, laughing slightly.

Epsilon was pulled out of her thoughts one more, feeling a slight bit terrified, and forgetting the chaos of her emotions. "Wait, and you want to do that while still in flight? What if we hit an air current?!" She asked, giving him a panicked look.

He just laughed again. "I'm kidding, but it's going to hurt. So it's best if you're not awake for those adjustments."

Epsilon glared at him once more, but for a completely different reason. "I hate you."

"Yeah, I know that sweetie." He laughed. "Your dad said the same thing."

"I'm sure he meant it too." She snapped back at him. "And don't call me sweetie!"

He just chuckled. "Now, can I get this over with, or shall we spend this whole flight bickering about our feelings?"

Epsilon let out a mock irritated sigh, troubles forgotten. "Fine, just get it over with." She said.

John nodded, and injected the serum. After that it didn't take long before Epsilon fell back asleep once more.

* * *

O.O Why was this so hard to write?

A F-22 Raptor weighs around 21 tons, but because Epsilon doesn't have her wings or vertical stabilizers I would guess she weighs a little less, maybe 18 tons or so. Still, for a C-5 Galaxy that should be no problem. They can carry around 112 tons of cargo!

Sorry for any mistakes, I don't have a Beta's for this story... or for any of my stories for that matter. I _had_ some, but not anymore. So, I'm (Please, pardon the expression) Winging it.

Some, part of my reasoning for having John sedate Epsilon for the light is that being up high with the different air pressure and things is not really great when your hurt. I learned this the hard way, while flying to Germany to visit my grandparents a few years ago, and all I did was fall of a trampoline and hit my spine on a rock. _ I don't even want to know how bad it would feel after damage like that, even if your an airplane!

Now, I have to go before my cat steals the rest of my Banana.


	4. Chapter 4

"Ma?"

Emma Majoris sat shifting in the fading light on the runway. She had been forcing back tears for more than an hour. She was literally worried sick, she was pale and shaking. Her soft blue eyes showed the depth of her emotion. But she couldn't cry; she wouldn't cry. She had to stay strong for her son.

Slowly she looked down to her the young Raptor, who was gazing up at her wide eyed. "Yes?"

Her heart dropped almost to her landing gear when he nestled himself against her, looking up at her with his bright blue eyes that seemed to glow even in the dying rays of the setting sun. "She's gonna be okay, isn't she?"

Emma sunk her teeth deeper in to the side of her cheek, she could already taste the oil dripping from the wound. She nodded. "She's fine dear, a few weeks of rest and she'll be back to normal." She said, though there was still that dreadful knot in her fuel tank, as if all the fuel had clumped together.

Orion Majoris nodded than turned his attention to the sky ahead once more. He didn't fully understand what happened, but he knew his sister was hurt, and that was enough for him.

Emma settled lower on to the tarmac, her large wing resting protectively over her son. She joined him in watching the horizon.

After what seemed like hours she picked up the faintest sound of engines, LOUD engines. She jolted upright, startling the younger jet. "I think she's here." She whispered.

Orion seemed to brighten. "Really?! Can we see her?!" He asked eagerly.

Emma smiled softly, though a cold feeling was spreading inside of her. "Once they land, and John says we can."

She looked back in to the ink black sky, watching the oncoming lights. She swallowed nervously, part of her was worried about seeing her daughter… How would she not break down? How could she stay strong when she was so close to tears now?

She shook her head, and cleared her head. She couldn't worry about that now, her daughter needed her.

She watched and waited as a massive Galaxy touched down in front of them, and taxied to the hanger next to them. Relief, worry, guilt and dread washed over her all at the same time as the back cargo ramp opened and the failure figure of John Wherling drive out. She quickly made her way to him.

A quick sideways wave told her to stay back.

She came to a stop and held her wing lower to keep the fledgling back as well.

John drove back up the ramp, returning a few minutes later with a large rolling pallet. A large gray emergency blanket was draped over, its edges fluttering lightly in the breeze. Emma shifted, trying to make out her daughter's features. She couldn't see much, but she could Epsilon was missing her vertical stabilizers, her horizontal stabilizers and her wings.

Of course, John had told her what happened, but part of her had refused to believe him.

As they hurried her inside, Emma and Orion approached. John smiled softly at them in greeting. "Once we get her all settled you can see her."

Emma nodded numbly. It had been a while since she'd seen the mechanic. He looked tired and stressed, but otherwise healthy. "I was hoping we wouldn't meet under these circumstances John..."]

He nodded. "It's mutual…" He said. "But that doesn't matter now," He shook his head. "Just wait inside, I'll call you when she's ready. With that he turned and disappeared with the other mechanics inside.

Once the door closed with a soft thud, Emma turned to the cargo jet who was closing his ramp and preparing to taxi away.

She made a soft cough, getting his attention.

"Can I help you?" he asked.

Emma shook her head. "No, you already have…" She said. "And I'd like to thank you."

The huge jet just smiled. "You're her mother aren't you?" He asked, turning towards her. The fighter jet looked as if she hadn't slept in days. Connor couldn't blame her. The young jet by her side only a little better. He felt bad for them, he knew the feeling all too well after he had almost lost his brother to a crash.

Emma nodded. "I am… I just… I'd like to thank you, again. It's great to have her home…"

Connor smiled, his eyes twinkling in the faint light of the hangers windows. "I'm glad to help." He said. "I wish you all luck, and I hope she gets better soon." He said before smiling goodbye and turning down back to the taxi way.

As he left he glance back one more time, the young jet was waving goodbye, Connor returned the gesture before turning off out of sight.

* * *

Once inside, the two settled down in the waiting room and began the last second to last phase of their painful waiting game.

After a while, Orion fell in to a light sleep, resting his small head against his mother's landing gear, lulled to sleep by the steady hum of her engines. His own smaller engine purred softly, revving up only a few times as he shifted ever so slightly.

Meanwhile Emma sat silent and still, lost in thought.

The soft creak of a door caught her attention.

John peered out from behind the silver door, he motioned with his fork for her to come in, but to stay quite while she did.

Ever so gently, she nudged Orion with her wing. "Hey," She whispered softly. "We can go in now."

The young fighter blink sleep out of his eyes and trailed after her, groggy.

As Emma entered the room, the lights were low, and all the mechanics but John had left. In the middle of the room, resting comfortably on a soft bed, was Epsilon. She was soundly sleeping, and was motionless save for the occasional twitch. Her wings and been replaced, and her stabilizers had been restored. A soft blanket had replaced the tarp, and was now draped gently over her airframe. Long, sliver scars ran down the seam where John and his team had welded the wings and stabilizers in place. A few lighter colored patches had long since replaced scratches and scrapes from her crash.

Emma settled quietly down next to the bed, careful not to wake her daughter. Orion cuddled up against her once more as he watched his older sister sleeping. "Is she gonna be okay?" He asked again sadly.

John smiled at the young jet. "With a little rest and some help from you two."

He nodded tiredly, yawning than closing his eyes resting against his mother again as he returned to sleep.

Emma turned to their family friend with a quiet sigh. "Thank you, John… You've done so much for our family… I don't even know what to say." She looked at young Orion. "I don't know what I would have done without her…"

The forklift smiled and put a fork on her wing. "She'll be fine." He said. "The repairs are going well, and the new wings fit nicely. The stabilizers are looking well, and I'm positive she'll be able to fly again. All she needs is a little time and some R&amp;R. I'll give you a few meds to take home once she's ready to leave."

Emma looked from him to her daughter. "How long will that be?"

"It's hard say, anywhere from a few days to a month at most…" He said.

Emma sighed weakly once more and looked at her son. "What exactly happened?"

John made a weary motion with his forks. "Heat seeking missile… most likely, hit her right next to her afterburner."

His only response was a silent nodded. She was done talking.

He turned and smiled weakly. "I'll leave you alone for a while." He said. "Call me when she's awake."

With that he turned and disappeared out the door.

Emma settled down, Orion's head against her side. She exhaled heavily, watching Epsilon, and the monitors. She seemed calm, at least for now.

As she watched her children, felt a single tear rolling down her cheek.


	5. Chapter 5

Sunlight streamed through an open window, past the curtains and into the sleepy little Alaskan hanger, finally coming to rest on the small family.

Epsilon cracked an eye open and murmured quietly, looking around drowsily. She slowly closed her eye again and snuggled deeper in to the padded "nest" she had made in her sleep. She didn't want to wake up, at least not yet.

Finally, after what seemed like hours she opened both eyes and accepted that she wasn't going to fall back asleep again in the near future. Much to her surprise, and delight she saw the smiling face of her little brother looking up at her.

"SHE'S AWAKE!" He yelled, startling both Epsilon and Emma, causing them to leap partly in to the air. Epsilon flinched as the impact sent an unwanted jolt through her frame, while her mother nearly fell over as she tried to balance on her landing gear again once she had reached the ground.

"Orion," She scolded, taxing over to him. "Please don't shout, dear…"

Epsilon shook her head to clear her vison then smiled weakly at her mother. "It's okay Mom, he didn't wake me."

She snorted half heartily, and nuzzled her daughter. "He's still not supposed to shout, and you know that dear." She smiled sadly at her daughter. "How are you feeling?"

Epsilon let out a feeble laugh, "Like I got run over by a bullet train." She lifted herself up on her landing gear as her brother disappeared through a door to her left, shouting something again; much to Emma's disapproval.

The door creaked open and John peeked in, even the young raptor towering over behind him. "Morning, how are you feeling?"

"Like she got run over by a bullet train." Orion answered for her.

John raised an eyebrow, but said nothing as he began inspecting the new welds. He removed the bandages and nodded to himself, scribbling something on a notepad kept in his belt.

"And?" Epsilon asked.

John shushed her, and continued her inspections. Once he was satisfied that everything was in order, he replaced the metal bandages and set down his pad.

He scrawled down notes on another, larger pad before turning to the now silent family of three. "Well, everything seems to be healing nicely, it's pretty well sealed for having been welded only last night. At this rate you should be out of here by next week. But that's yet to be decided. Now, there's one spot we might need to keep an eye on, but I doubt it'll cause too much trouble. Now, it might be a two to three months before you'll be able to use your wings again."

Epsilon nodded quietly, she didn't mind that. It still unnerved her to think about flying so soon. But something made her feel a little more confident that she would again, she wasn't sure what it was, but it was a warm fuzzy feeling in her engine. Still, there was that small point of dark doubt…

"Though, there's something I need to discuss." John said.

Emma, reading the forklifts somber expression turned to her youngest child. "Orion? Could you go get your sister some fuel?" She asked.

He nodded, eager to help.

She gave him some money and ushered him out the door.

Once he was out of sight she turned to the mechanic. Epsilon shifted, she didn't like his tone or his expression, thoughts began racing through her head. _Will I be able to fly agi- wait… he just said would be... Will I be fit for combat? Is it something else? What if-_

"There's a chance the damage might have some lasting effects, including loss in some aerial capabilities."

There was a short silence as both mother and daughter let the news sink in.

Emma coughed slightly, in the way she did when she was worried. "What kind of loss?"

John shrugged, folding his forks and sighing, to the point where it seemed as if his tires had deflated. "It's impossible to tell, but I image Speed and Maneuverability may be compromised. Not too a point where it will effect everyday life, or surveillance missions, but it may cause problems in air-to-air combat."

Epsilon's heart sunk down to her landing gear. "Can't you fix it? Or replace parts?"

He shook his head. "Not yet."

Emma's stair hardened. "What do you mean not yet?"

"It's a rather difficult and possibly dangerous surgical procedure. She's too young for that kind of surgery. It can't be done legally until she's older, the exact age I'm not sure of yet, though I believe it may be 25 or possibly even 30."

Epsilon swallowed. "So, does that mean if- when I fly again that I'll have to stick to surveillance missions, and things like that? Bombing runs?"

John flinched. "Maybe, though I imagine they might put you on medical leave until it can be fixed."

"MEDICAL LEAVE?! You mean, like early retirement?! I'm 23! I'm not ready to retire!"

He shook his canopy. "Not retirement, medical leave. Once it's time you can have the damage fixed, you'll be right back to work… of course you might need to take some refresher courses…"

"So I have to start all over again?"

He snorted. "No, not really. You won't have to go through basic training again. It's just like refreshing information before a test, or revisiting old material after summer break."

"Except that summer break might last anywhere for 2-7 years."

This time, Emma stepped in instead. "Once you've learned the maneuvers, and information, it will be second nature. I had gotten a little rusty after I went on leave when you were a baby. That was six years dear, I picked my skills right back up. I can still fight just as well as before."

"So, what am I going to do in the time being? Sit around on my shocks and do nothing?"

Emma and John exchanged glances. "There's lots of things you can do; Go to college, become a teacher or a flight instructor, or a scientist, design new weapons, become a recruiter. You've always wanted to become a photographer! You can do that. Or become a meteorologist, or an Astronomer. Stay home and baby sit your little brother…"

"Ha, ha, ha, ha –no."

"I'm back!"

Orion came charging in with some cans of oil balanced on his wings, he pass one out to his mother and sister, and offered one to John, who politely declined.

"So… what I miss?"

"Talking." Epsilon said dully.

"'Bout what?"

"Medications." She lied.

"Oh…"

Emma sighed and smiled weakly, as her son shifted to find a comfortable spot to rest. He asked something in a hushed tone to John than smiled and curled up next to his sister, careful not to hurt her.

He closed his eyes. "'Night."

"It's 12:00…"

"Same difference."

Epsilon chuckled weakly and rested her chin on her brother's head. "Night, little bro."

She let all worried go as she concentrated on the here and now, she was tired, and worried and needed rest and company more than any medication.

* * *

_Important plot points coming up in the next chapter, until then: Have a cute lil' brother fighter jet, a worried parent and an exhausted doctor. _

_*Edit* Fixed some wording mistakes. _


End file.
